Get clip to stay in event viewer

Here's the most common example:
I'm in a timeline, and I Shift-F to match frame. I've identified a clip I'd like to use in another timeline. When I click on the other timeline the browser, poof--the clip is gone from the event viewer and I need to just search for it manually. This happens often enough that's it's a bit of a bummer. Many things I was used to in Legacy are dealt with in other ways in X so I hope to be pleasantly surprised...?
If not, I'm not sold on the event viewer being very useful at all.

[Noah Kadner]"There are two viewers in X. One will just show whatever's under the play had currently the other can be fixed to clips in the Event browser- make sure you have both active.
"

Thanks for your response.
I know there are 2 viewers, but I don't know what you mean by "can be fixed to clips in the event browser."
Is there anything more that I can do than double-click on a clip in the browser to make it stay in the event viewer?
I double click on a clip, or match frame as I said before, and the clip appears in the event browser. But when I open a different project, that project now appears in the timeline and in both viewers, which is what I mean by my clip disappears from event viewer. I am unable to "fix" a clip to the viewer.
What am I missing?

Correct- the Event viewer will switch to previewing a project frame if you open double click in the Event browser to another project timeline. It will retain focus on a clip if you use the Timeline history controls to toggle between recently opened projects instead however. The little arrows that appear in the center of the window just above the timeline itself.

"Correct- the Event viewer will switch to previewing a project frame if you open double click in the Event browser to another project timeline. It will retain focus on a clip if you use the Timeline history controls to toggle between recently opened projects instead however. The little arrows that appear in the center of the window just above the timeline itself."

That's what I was afraid of! I did notice I could use the timeline history arrows but obviously this is far from ideal. I have no idea why they did it like that, I can't see any benefit. If I'm opening a timeline, it opens in the other viewer, why have it trump what's in the event viewer? For this reason I don't even bother having the event viewer open. There are many things I love about X but this imho is an example of a fumble that was not replaced by a cool "forget what you thought you know about NLE" way to do it.

"Well what it is about your workflow that requires opening media before opening a timeline?"

I'm not sure I know exactly what you mean. I guess I could say I often open media before opening EVERY timeline.

Where this issue comes up most for me is when:

-- I realize 1 clip from one timeline would be great in another. I know I can copy and paste the clip directly into the other timeline, but I might want a different part of the clip and it's much easier (according to what I'm used to) to hit one key combo (shift F to match frame) and then peruse my timelines freely, not just the ones I have recently opened, while my chosen clip waits patiently in its viewer. I also think the timeline history arrows are very inefficient, even if all my timelines were in there. The point of the browser seems to be easy access to stuff like timelines--e.g. a smart collection with timelines with a certain word in them...love that--alphabetical order, etc. The arrows are cool to quickly jump to something I was just working on but certainly not as a replacement for the browser.

-- I have a clip in the event browser, and I simply want to look at another timeline for ANY reason. Maybe I'm putting one clip into many timelines, I don't know. Or I know there was a good place for that clip but I'm not sure which timeline.

I guess it just seems obvious--if you're going to have two viewers--that one is dedicated to projects and one to clips.
Is there any benefit to it not working this way that I'm missing? Like I said in OP, I have been humbled many times to see that FCPX does something in a different and often smarter way, but on this I'm stumped. I understand there are workarounds, like copy and paste or the timeline arrows, but to me that's a loss and I don't know the gain.

"I see what you mean but it's not a specific way the app was designed to work. If I had to work that way I would just copy/paste and trim in the timeline. "

This only works if it's the same part of the clip you're going to use. What if it's a totally different part? I suppose you can copy, find new project, paste, match frame again, delete clip from timeline and then you have the clip back in the viewer.

In your opinion is there something beneficial about the way the event viewer works in FCPX?

[brianlaz]"I'm in a timeline, and I Shift-F to match frame. I've identified a clip I'd like to use in another timeline. When I click on the other timeline the browser, poof--the clip is gone from the event viewer and I need to just search for it manually. This happens often enough that's it's a bit of a bummer. "

I don't see it as "gone from the event viewer": when I do SHFT+F and then switch to another project, the previous clip is still marked as a range with a thin yellow box around it. However it's not positionally locked in place in the event browser.

If you want to mark a clip you find important, you can (1) Favorite it (2) Keyword it, or (3) Mark it with a marker and create a one-time Smart Collection to search for clips with markers.

Favoriting a clip is one key, keywording is one key combination if the keyword HUD is up (see MacBreak Studio 223, "Warp Speed Keywording"), and adding a marker is one key - "m". For the marker case you'd have to create a one-time Smart Collection where text includes "marker".

I agree it can be a learning experience to think of data in relational terms instead of navigationally. In relational terms there are attributes and queries for those attributes -- the data has no intrinsic order outside of a result set. Humans tend to think of data as having an intrinsic order, e.g, "Brown" comes before "Smith". But what if Brown lives in Texas and Smith lives in Alabama -- maybe sorting by state is the most important. That's why relational databases (like FCPX) have no intrinsic sort order. There are attributes, and queries for those attributes. Any order only exists in the scope of a query result.

It is common to scour past projects for material. That material wouldn't be in the project (aka timeline) unless it had some good quality. It might be a useful enhancement if FCPX allowed selecting multiple clips in a timeline and doing "match ranges" on them all, then you could mark, favorite or keyword all those matched ranges in a single step. However it doesn't support that so you can do it one clip at a time. This is still pretty fast when you use shortcut keys to favorite or keyword it. Unlike range selections those are persistent attributes that won't evaporate if your mouse finger twitches.

"I don't see it as "gone from the event viewer": when I do SHFT+F and then switch to another project, the previous clip is still marked as a range with a thin yellow box around it. However it's not positionally locked in place in the event browser."

For me it is literally gone from the viewer, and it sounded like Noah was confirming this is how it works. Do you mean the range mark is still there once you find the clip again? Or that the clip is still in the viewer?

"Favoriting a clip is one key, keywording is one key combination if the keyword HUD is up (see MacBreak Studio 223, "Warp Speed Keywording"), and adding a marker is one key - "m". For the marker case you'd have to create a one-time Smart Collection where text includes "marker"."

Like I said in the OP, I get that there are always work arounds. I can see that I can use keywords to create a kind of holding pen for clips I'd like to find again quickly. I know how to favorite clips, I still have to go looking for it in a smart collection or keyword collection instead of it just staying where it is.

"I agree it can be a learning experience to think of data in relational terms instead of navigationally."

I'm fine with the relational data! I think my question is simpler than that, and yet unanswered.

Question: Is there any benefit at all to this "new way" (event viewer goes black when you so much as click on a smart collection)? Why would anyone need that? Or for the project they open to appear in both viewers and lose the clip? I.e. am I just being blind to the payoff that this loss creates?

The only thing I can think of is that this way you can browse through other projects without losing (viewer-wise) the one you were working on, but you could do that in 7 as well.

P.s. I glaze over when I hear about FCPx workarounds to perform what 7 did with one stroke. I KNOW FCPX is powerful in many ways. I dig FCPx more and more and 7 can't compare, but sometimes I just want to know, is this real, can I really not do this in one stroke.